Sunday, August 16, 2015

August 16 On This Day in Australian History

1835 - The second contingent of permanent pioneer settlers in large numbers arrived at Kangaroo Island.

1861 - South Australian John McKinlay departed Adelaide to search for the missing Burke and Wills expedition.

1883 - 'Notes on the Aborigines of Australia, Paper presented at meeting Proceedings of the Geographical Society Australasia, NSW and Victorian Branches described in detail the rock art of Aboriginal people of the Sydney area.

1890 - The Australian Maritime Dispute, more commonly known as the Maritime Strike, began when officers and seamen walked off their ships in Sydney. This marked the beginning of a strike that lasted until November 1890. The Mercantile Marine Officers' Association called for the strike over outstanding pay and work condition claims. The strike soon spread to wharf labourers, gas stockers, coal miners and wool shearers in Victoria and Queensland and to New Zealand. The strike also marks the first time military units were deployed against the strikers in NSW and Victoria.

1893 - New laws in South Australia permited deportation of Chinese immigrants without a permit.

1894 - A race was arranged between champion scullers Australian Bill Beach and Canadian Edward Hanlon before a vast crowd of an estimated 100,000 people, including an estimated 30,000 at the finishing line alone. A £1,000 side bet was also arranged between the scullers.
A monument for Beach was built at Cabarita Point which is on southern side of the Parramatta course, not far from the finish line. The inscription on the plaque reads:
"The undefeated champion sculler of the world"

1900 - Imperial Bushmen in action at Buffels Hoek, South Africa; Five Australians were killed and 11 wounded in this action during a British advance from Mafeking to Zeerust.

1922 - The first Queensland radio broadcast was of a concert from Savoy Theatre, Clayfield.

1930 - Australia participted in the inaugural British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada.

1942 - Broome was attacked by the Japanese.

1968 - The Medical Congress was told Aboriginal infant deaths account for 10 per cent of all Australian deaths in that age group.

1971 - The first Qantas Boeing 747 jumbo jet "City of Canberra" made its maiden flight.

1975 - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (Labor) handed over title to the land to the Gurindji Aboriginal people—the first act of restitution to Aboriginal people and the start of the land rights movement.

1979 - The Aboriginal Treaty Committee was established by a group of non-indigenous Australians to promote the idea of a treaty. The committee called for a 'treaty, covenant or convention' to include provisions relating to:
:the protection of Aboriginal identity, languages, law and culture;
:the recognition and restoration of rights to land by applying, throughout Australia, the recommendations of the Woodward Commission in its 1974 report;
:the conditions governing mining and exploitation of other natural resources on Aboriginal land;
:compensation to Aboriginal Australians for the loss of and damage to traditional lands and to their traditional way of life; and
the right of Aboriginal Australians to control their own affairs and to establish their own associations for this purpose.

1979 - Lex Watson made a submission to the NSW Police Department Inquiry in which he called for non-discrimination in recruitment and better liaison with community groups.

1981 - Champion Aboriginal rugby league brothers Gary, Glen and Mark Ella were all selected to play for the Wallabies in England. The three brothers created history, as they are the only group of brothers to be selected, and to play, for the Wallabies.

1987 - After Lloyd James Boney’s funeral came a five-hour series of clashes with police (including the Tactical Response Group). The Brewarrina Aboriginal community did not accept Boney’s death had been suicide.

1988 - In Mildura Sculptor and Mardi Gras Committee member, Cath Philips, appeared in court facing charges of obscenity relating to a work she exhibited at the local Triennial Sculpture Exhibition in April.

1995 - In Melbourne The 20th Anniversary of the first National Homosexual Conference was marked with the launch of an information kit focusing on the major milestones of gay and lesbian history in Australia.

1996 - A report by the NSW Attorney General recommended that judges and prosecutors receive more information about the “homosexual advance defence” and that his department launch a community education campaign to counter anti-gay prejudice and its influence on the criminal justice system.

1998- Steve Fossett ran into heavy storms and plunged with his balloon into the Coral Sea, 500 miles from Queensland,

1999 – The Bolte Bridge over the Yarra River was opened in Melbourne, Victoria.

2001 - The first regional sitting of the Victorian Parliament's Legislative Assembly was held at Bendigo Town Hall.
The first regional sitting of the Victorian Parliament's Legislative Council was held at Ballarat Town Hall.

2002 - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission of Western Australia revealed the Premier‘s Office had invited ATSIC to work closely with government to address the problem of family violence and child abuse. The State Government invited ATSIC to have a presence on the Implementation Committee – in line with Recommendation 143 of the Gordon Inquiry report.

2005 - It was reported that scientists in Australia's tropical north are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antimicrobial drugs for humans, after tests showed that the reptile's immune system kills HIV.

2006 - The Ord Final Agreement was registered as an indigenous land use agreement by the National Native Title Tribunal. The agreement contains an Aboriginal Development Package that provides a range of initiatives focusing on developing the capacity of the Miriuwung Gajerrong people to engage in the local economy, to participate in and benefit from the Stage 2 development and to participate in planning and management in the region.

2007 - Australia’s PM John Howard said he would lift a ban on selling uranium to India, subject to strict conditions.